The company has cut back orders on birds 16 pounds and more in half, resulting in fewer turkeys. Sixteen pounds, incidentally, is the average weight for a turkey eaten on Thanksgiving.

Officially, Butterball says:

There may be limited availability on some larger sizes of fresh turkeys…We experienced a decline in weight gains on some of our farms causing a limited availability of large, fresh turkeys.”

That means the turkeys simply aren’t as fat as they need to be for us to devour them the way we traditionally do before falling into an 18-hour sleep stupor.

The problem is reportedly all over the country and not isolated to one region.

The good news is the shortage only affects fresh turkeys and will not have an impact on the frozen ones that Butterball sells. So, you have options. And instead of turducken, you may want to consider ducken.

Let's just keep our fingers crossed the cranberry sauce industry doesn't come out with news saying its supply will also be low.